I was born and raised in Oberhof, a small village in the mountains, located in one of the most beautiful areas in central Germany. I’ve spent the last 6 years of my life and academic career in Finland, Scandinavia, studying towards my doctoral degree in English Language and Culture. I’m particularly interested in the study of cognitive approaches to language structure, second language acquisition and corpus linguistics. I’ve also had the opportunity to teach Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, and English writing to BA and MA level students. Outside of academia, I enjoy reading novels, traveling to remote places and going on new adventures.

I came to Zhuhai in September 2016 and I am very excited to explore this part of the world. I’ve been to Asia a few times before, but never visited China. I’ve heard nothing but good about Zhuhai, so I decided to come here.

Now, let me give you a little more information on my background as a university teacher and researcher. First and foremost, I am interested in investigating the scope and limits of the cognitive view of language (especially grammar and semantics, which on this view are very much intertwined), particularly its applications to second language teaching and learning. Cognitive Linguists explore the relation of language and mind and examine the relation of language structure to things outside language: cognitive principles and mechanisms not specific to language, including principles of human categorization; pragmatic and interactional principles; and functional principles in general. In addition to my interest in Cognitive Linguistics, I have recently begun to explore the study of the relationship between language and society, sociolinguistics, as well as the study of cross-linguistic variation. I hold a PhD in English language and culture from the University of Eastern Finland, a Master’s Degree in English and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Hildesheim, Germany. The main objective of my dissertation was to explore the effectiveness of cognitive grammar theory for L2 instruction of less advanced learners in English tense and aspect forms. This is one of the few attempts to link cognitive grammar to the area of second-language teaching and learning.

I started learning English when I was 6 years old, in primary school. I’ve always had a fascination for English, so I would learn about and use English at every opportunity. I studied, lived and worked in the UK for some time, which, in retrospect, was a very significant phase for improving my English skills.

During my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I participated in international workshops, seminars and conferences on various issues in language research, such as L2 acquisition, teaching of grammar, and the statistical analysis of language patterns. I have published two articles in international journals, and my doctoral dissertation, entitled A Cognitive Grammar Approach to Teaching Tense and Aspect in the L2 Context was published as a volume by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in June 2015. I also participated in a few student and teacher exchange programmes, through which I had the opportunity to visit universities in Finland, England, Greece and Poland.

In my spare time, I enjoy many things: reading, hiking, watching films, traveling, Yoga, chatting with friends over a nice meal. I feel lucky to be here and I look forward to working with both students and staff alike.